Last December one of the most remarkable museums in China opened its
doors – a space-age design on a beach that houses the remains of a
Chinese junk that sank over 800 years ago and was lifted from the sea
bed.

It was discovered in 1987 but salvaged from the bottom of the ocean
only 20 years later. The museum also shows the pieces found on the ship
– including gold rings and bracelets and porcelain, in astonishingly
good repair. The Guangdong Maritime Silk Road Museum is in Hailing,
Guangdong province, around 280 kilometres from Macao. The vessel, Nanhai
I (South Sea Number One), is the oldest and best-preserved ship ever
found off the Chinese coast. It was built during the Southern Song
dynasty (1127-1279) and sank a few miles off the coast in the South
China Sea, on its way from China to India or the Middle East, the
maritime Silk Road. It was loaded with tens of thousands of pieces of
porcelain and has three masts, is 30.4 metres long and has a capacity of
80 tons.